…and the Beast…
…and the Beast… began it’s life with no beastly intentions whatever, as nothing more than an etude for tuning the interval of the perfect fifth. (The interval of the perfect fifth is, after the octave, the most sturdy, solid, and consonant of intervals.) Jeff Anderle, my partner in the bass clarinet duo Sqwonk, and I had recently discovered the profound difference it made when the intervals we played were perfectly in tune, and this was especially true of perfect fifths. The resonances and overtones that perfectly in tune bass clarinets produce were astonishing and captivated our ears and imaginations. So I started writing a piece all in parallel perfect fifths for us to use to practice tuning. As the piece unfolded, I began to get an image of some sort of large, lumbering creature. The first part of the piece (which became the last movement of …and the Beast…) was heavy and aggressive, drawing inspiration from heavy metal music, but in the end it wound down into gentle undulations, finally giving up its parallel fifths for a sweetly lyrical, yet still dark and mysterious, floating melody. It seemed that the beast I had unleashed at the beginning had lain down to rest by the end, so I titled it …and the Beast shall Slumber. It was Jeff’s idea that there could be other movements about other activities of the beast. Ultimately …and the Beast shall Slumber became the last movement, preceded by The Beast Awakens, …and the Beast shall Creep…, ...and the Beast shall Dance…, and …the Beast Attacks!..., a sort of day in the life of the common fantastical beast. The spirit of this piece was also inspired by a solo bass clarinet piece by my former composition teacher Elinor Armer entitled Beast which I have performed a couple of times, most recently at Old First Church this past spring.
- Jon Russell
Profiteering
The Iraq ‘War’ is a complete disaster. There is no foreseeable end to our occupation and sectarian violence continues to escalate. Who is responsible for this mess? War profiteers. Companies such as Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, and Bechtel are grossing obscene profits while kids my age are being killed while protecting the stability of a puppet democracy. It is strange to consider that Lockheed Martin’s business is in manufacturing weaponry to destroy civilization while Halliburton earns lucrative contracts to rebuild. We all know that Dick Cheney was once the head of Halliburton, but many are unaware that before he took office as vice president, his wife Lynn was on the board of…you guessed it, Lockheed Martin. See the connection?
- Ian Dicke
Valediction
Smart, funny, indubitably our better, but also one of the gang.
- Damon Waitkus
KlezDuo
Inspired by my experience playing Klezmer music (the traditional folk music of Eastern European Jews), this piece is a boisterous and energetic romp.
- Jon Russell
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
This, we are certain, is how Bach would have composed this piece had the bass clarinet existed in his day and had he not thus been restricted to realizing his vision on so limited an instrument as the organ. Actually, we’re not exactly sure what made us think arranging a famous organ piece for two bass clarinets would be a good idea, but there have been no lightning strikes as of yet, so we can only assume that Mr. Bach approves. We hope that you do too.
- Sqwonk
